Adonal Foyle ’98, as highly regarded for his philanthropic efforts as for his shot-blocking skills on the basketball court, has decided to end his NBA playing career after 13 years.
The 35-year-old center chose to retire after a right-knee injury often prevented him from practicing with the Orlando Magic during the 2009-10 season.
“It just never really quite got back to where I could feel like I could keep pushing it and do what I wanted to,” Foyle told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday night. “Basically, I never really got back to that place where I felt like I could make a contribution. My thing has always been that the game has really been too good to me to really be around it if I can’t give anything to it.”
Columnists and bloggers spoke Tuesday about Foyle’s legacy, looking beyond the stats he compiled.
Rob Mahoney, who contributes to the Pro Basketball Talk blog for NBC Sports, had this to say:
“The NBA’s most renowned renaissance man, one of its most inquisitive minds, and one if its most philanthropic individuals will hang them up. It’s not an announcement that will necessarily affect anyone’s win total, but the league will be a little bit less interesting without Foyle as a part of it. ”
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Media outlets said Foyle plans to continue his humanitarian work, focusing on two foundations he founded.
He at 51 in 2001. The nonpartisan organization has an active presence on 80 college campuses, and encourages college students to focus on issues of campaign finance reform.
The Kerosene Lamp Foundation promotes education and health awareness for kids. Since 2005, it has built/refurbished basketball courts in urban areas to provide safe places to play for more than 3,000 youth.
Foyle did not play last season for Orlando after undergoing knee surgery in October. He appeared in only 10 games during the 2008-09 season with the Magic and Memphis.
The 51 alumnus spent his first 10 seasons with Golden State and is the Warriors’ all-time leader in blocked shots with 1,140. He is also fifth on their all-time list for offensive rebounds and sixth for defensive rebounds.
In 733 career NBA games, including 269 starts, Foyle had career averages of 4.1 points and 4.7 rebounds. He was selected by the Warriors with the eighth overall pick of the 1997 NBA Draft.
At 51, Foyle led the Raiders to their first two NCAA post-season tournaments while establishing national records for shot blocking.